and more readable reads

I'm finished with my AP English work! Whoohoo!

However I think I will take some time to read all the others on the list. They do look interesting. But other than treading through Frankenstein and Hamlet, here's what's on my bookshelf for the next few weeks:






1. This Is Your Brain On Music - Daniel J. Levitin

http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0525949690

I'm actually half done with this read and I AM LOVING IT. Levitin writes very well, and not only does he combine and explain the science of psychology and music, you can truly feel his love for both subjects in the sentences. It's less of a novel than it is a scientific read. The back cover caught my eye when I read 'Levitin reveals : how composers exploit the way our brains make sense of the world. why we emotionally attach to music we listen to as teenagers, why 10,000 hours of practice - not talent - makes virtuosos, how insidious jingles get stuck in our heads.' Levitin has a background at MIT, Berklee, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and so on. This is a great book that I would recommend to anyone.







2. White Oleander - Janet Fitch

http://www.amazon.com/White-Oleander-Oprahs-Book-Club/dp/0316284955/

To tell you the truth, I've never read a book just because it said "Oprah's Book Club" on it. But I'm giving it a shot. Hopefully it'll be good. Since I haven't started it I don't have much to say about it, but Los Angeles foster homes and poetry sounds a promising combination right?






3. Summers At Castle Auburn - Sharon Shinn

http://www.amazon.com/Summers-Castle-Auburn-Sharon-Shinn/dp/044100928X/

I'm not a big fantasy-medieval book person, but I promised Alicia I would read this this summer so I'm putting it on this list. Alicia won't stop talking about it and from what I heard it seems good. It had great reviews so I hope it'll be a good read. :)






4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

http://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Orange-Anthony-Burgess/dp/0393312836/

I'm disappointed in myself that I haven't had the chance to read this book until this summer. I have high expectations for this.







5. Ticket To Ride - Larry Kane

http://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Ride-Inside-Beatles-Changed/dp/014303426X/

If you do decide to read this, get the hardcover version with the cd. They have a bunch of 'Ticket To Ride' novels, but please please please get the one by Larry Kane. I'm halfway through this book too and I am enjoying it too much. Everyone knows what a big Beatles fan I am and Larry Kane really did a fantastic job chronicling their coast-to-coast trip on their North American concert tour. They have a good amount of pictures in the book and a really nice cd of recordings of Beatles interviews.






6. Postcards from the Boys - Ringo Starr

http://www.amazon.com/Postcards-Boys-Ringo-Starr/dp/081184613X

I originally wasn't going to put this on this list because it isn't really a book and it was fast to go through, but reading "Ticket to Ride" made me remember about it. It's more of a museum collection of Beatles memorabilia in the form of postcards, from the boys that is. Each postcard from all over the world would have a picture, a phrase, a sentence, and no more. They say so little but it shows the really deep friendship they all have with one another, that a simple "YOU GOT THAT SOMETHING" would mean so much to Ringo. The book would show a picture of the postcard, back and front, and Ringo would write a little of what he remembers from each one. Really interesting and enjoyable to go through.






7. Michelangelo & the Pope's Ceiling - Ross King

http://www.amazon.com/Michelangelo-Popes-Ceiling-Ross-King/dp/0142003697/

I HAVE YET TO READ BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME EITHER. Every time I go to the library its in high demand and checked out. Not fair. But I'm so excited to read this because I've actually been to the Sistine Chapel in Rome and toured Florence and I don't know the historical context of Michelangelo's masterpieces as well as I would like. The Sistine Chapel's ceiling was extraordinary and I remember our tour guide telling us stories and legends of how Michelangelo would work lying on his back or bending backwards on a scaffold to paint. Very excited to read this.






8. Theft - Peter Carey

http://www.amazon.com/Theft-Peter-Carey/dp/0307276481/

I'm usually not a big fan of easy reads and love stories, even mores so, fiction stories that will never in a million years happen, but the cover of the book seemed promising. It centers around "an ex-'really famous' painter, acting as a caretaker for his younger brother, a damaged man of imposing physicality and childlike emotional volatility." And then some "mysterious young women, daughter in law of a late great painter" named Marlene is introduced in the novel. Ok, its cheesy, but if it's about art and love then I'll give it a chance.





9. Great Neck - Jay Cantor

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Neck-Jay-Cantor/dp/0375713395/

Isn't the cover adorable? Something about a comic book artist, the Holocaust, the sixties and seventies, civil rights, and New York. Oh, and friendship, love, sex, politics, drugs, optimism, courage, and "dangerous dreams of a generation who sometimes seemed to think they must be superheroes." I think I will like this.





10. Seven Years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Years-Tibet-Heinrich-Harrer/dp/1585427438/

It has a foreword by the Dalai Lama! THE DALAI LAMA!
A FORWARD TO THE NOVEL BY THE DALAI LAMA!
That goes over my head really. But I found this under 'travel/history' and its been made into a movie. So my book has giant pictures of Brad Pitt all over it.
I'm not a big Brad Pitt fan so these pictures are a bit distracting but nevertheless, I think I will enjoy this since it combines both travel and history. Both of which I am a fan of.






11. Picasso's War: The Destruction of Guernica, and The Masterpiece That Changed The World - Russell Martin

http://www.amazon.com/Picassos-War-Extraordinary-Atrocity-Painting/

I guess Russell Martin also wrote a book called "Beethoven's Hair" that I really want to pick up someday, but as for right now I will settle with Picasso's War. I read the description of the novel and there seems to be a lot of drama in it. I don't really like drama, but I really like Picasso, so maybe it'll balance one another out. I think this might be comparable to Candide by Voltaire, lots of traveling, and lots of stories.


The thing about books is that you lose so much time reading them. At least I do, and I essentially don't have a lot of time ever. I'm hoping that I'll work on my time management more this year and improve it, so I get a couple minutes devoted to reading each day, and not at two in the morning.